Across The Veil
by unique.normality
Summary: This is a short story about Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks' trip across the veil. It involves a few old friends that have some catching up to do.


Remus Lupin fell through the veil and landed with a grunt. He looked around and saw something he couldn't put into words. It was a mix of everything anyone ever told him about the afterlife, just ten times as different.

He then looked down; noticing her hands were not scared. He guessed the rest of him wasn't either. His clothes, he saw, were clean and free of holes. Turning his head slightly while grabbing piece of his hair, he noticed it was the same dark blonde it was when he was younger.

Remus heard a cheer and cry of "Moony!" and his head shot up and he only had time to notice a blob of black and red before three different people engulfed him in a hug.

Once he pulled back, he was able to see who had attacked him.

His eyes started to fill with tears as he looked into the faces of his best friends.

Lily Potter wore a watery smile as she beamed at him, clearly torn between sadness and happiness with him being there.

James Potter had a similar look behind his glasses, while he had his arm around his wife.

And last but not least, because he would never let himself be, Sirius Black wore a look at only could be described as one someone wore when they were being freed of a lonely curse. Though he was with the Potters, having all his friends clearly did him good.

Remus hugged them all again, individually before a gasp tore his eyes from his friends.

Lupin then started to cry silently as he saw Nymphadora Tonks come through the veil, stumbling as she went, her hair a melancholy blue.

Lily, James, and Sirius were silent as they watched Tonks look up, see Remus, and fall into his arms.

They both cried into each other's shoulders; each of them occasionally muttering something about their friends who were, hopefully, still alive. Many, many times the name "Teddy" was mentioned.

Finally they both composed themselves. Tonks stood up fully, though still leaning against Remus, wrapped in his arms. She looked at their small audience with a confused look that mirrored theirs.

Tonks scanned over Lily and James and she smiled slightly as she went to hug Sirius.

"Hello, cuz," Sirius murmured, his eyes watery.

Nymphadora took the step back to Lupin's side as she gave him a look he took to say, "Who are they?"

"Dora, this is James Potter and his wife Lily," Remus said, smiling when her face lit up in comprehension."

"Oh! You're Harry's parents! Remus talked about you two a lot. I always had wished I had met you. Your son is a wonderful boy, well man really," Tonks smiled kindly (after she stopped rambling) as the two new friends hugged her. Tonks, also, gave Lily as smile only a mother could give.

"Remus? You know who looks like Lily?"

Lupin looked at her for a moment before he smiled, nodding.

"Ginny," they both said, turning towards Lily who looked at them warily.

Tonks laughed lightly before explaining.

"Ginny is the youngest daughter of Arthur and Molly Weasley."

"Oh, we met them, didn't we? They had so many kids. She had had her sixth child while I was still pregnant with Harry, didn't she?" Lily said, looking to James who nodded.

Tonks nodded as well, "They had one more after Ron. Ginny is a year younger. Well Ron is Harry's best friend and Ginny is his girlfriend."

Lily and James' face lit up at that piece of information.

"Well ex-girlfriend at the moment," Remus added before explaining why.

"And there's Hermione Granger. She's Harry's other best friend. She's basically the brains of the group," Tonks giggled, her mood lightening. "I know her and Ron are going to get together soon, it was pretty bloody obvious."

They small group sat and talked about the things James, Sirius, and Lily missed, trying not to stray to a sad topic.

But one certain subject could not be avoided.

"Hey cuz, who's that Teddy person you were talking about," Sirius asked softly, knowing

it was a sore subject even if he didn't know why.

At this question, Tonks made a small whimpering noise. Remus wrapped his arms around his wife, knowing everyone else was wondering the same, though only Sirius was blunt enough to ask it.

"Well, Padfoot, Teddy Remus Lupin is our son."

At this new information, Padfoot and Prongs' draws dropped causing Tonks to giggle tearfully.

"You're…?" Sirius nodded to the two of them.

Remus nodded as he played with Tonk's purple hair, holding up his left hand.

"That explains a lot, then," Sirius laughed.

Tonks looked up as Lily shuffled over to where she was and gave her a hug, tears now flowing freely from both mother's eyes.

"I know what you're going through, honey. It'll be okay."

The two cried in each other's arms for a while.

Sirius sat back awkwardly while he watched James give Remus a brotherly hug, muttering things along the same line's of Lily's comments.

They stopped talking with each other as they stood around the veil, welcoming the various people who came through it as the war progressed.

Most of the people moved on. A few that they knew stopped to chat before continuing across. There were the few that stayed, but each person made their choice and knew it was the right one: to stay or go on.

What really happened can never be known, but guessing is the best we can do,


End file.
